It looked a bit odd, the burly Roberto Sierra exiting the stage with a bouquet of flowers. “I think this is the first time I remember receiving flowers,” said Sierra, posing for photos with three other similarly bouquet-holding men–one representing an absent female honoree. They’re winners of the 2004 Joyce Awards, $50,000 grants to Midwest cultural groups for commissioning works by artists of color. Sierra, a composer who teaches at Cornell University, then passed his arrangement off to a bubbly Kelly Luchtman, who produced the video presentation of the winners. “They were supposed to be a little less floral,” whispered one coordinator working with the sponsor, the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation. Many in the crowd that gathered at the Arts Club took any opportunity to glad-hand and thumbs-up each other. Some, like the ebullient Stephanie Kimmel, developer of corporate funding and government spending for the Goodman Theatre, led with outstretched hands to schmooze. “Nicely done!” she told one of the coordinators. Co-workers Janna Burch and Richard DesRoches watched her from across the room. “Look at her!” Burch said. “She’ll get back to us–once she’s done with everyone in the room.” –Cheryl Jackson
BOSOMS AND BOTTOM DOLLARS
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Jill Conner Browne so disappointed her groupies. The “Sweet Potato Queen,” headlining the Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club’s benefit luncheon for the Gus Foundation, wasn’t wearing her foundation (garments, that is). But 20 of her fans were. Bummer. Anyway, she helped HJWC raise $170,000 for the foundation dedicated to funding research for pediatric brain tumors, the leading cancer killer among children. Browne, who’s been on the New York Times bestseller list, autographed copies of her “Big-Ass” cookbook at the Oak Brook event and talked about her new one due out this spring: “The Sweet Potato Queen’s Field Guide to Men.” The crowd of 834 women included one lone wolf, Andy Jacobs, Gus’ executive director.